First Grade Retreat

At 7:00 a.m. last Friday morning I boarded a bus with all of my first graders and headed to a nearby property to have a spiritual retreat with Sor Magyls.

Francisco, Daniel, and Rolando ready to go

Sor reminds me so much of Julie Andrews in the sound of music and this scene just solidifies it... 

I LOVE that she can do this bird call...

Pretty cool, right?

I am constantly amazed at what my students eat for breakfast every morning. So I took a few pictures so you can see exactly what I'm talking about.

1. Typical Honduran breakfast consisting of platanos, beans, eggs, and cheese with a juice box on the side. But this is for a six year old girl who also ate the equivalent of another plateful of food on top of this and then ate lunch two hours later. She probably ate at her house before coming too. It makes my stomach hurt just thinking about all of that food!

2. Yep - your eyes are not deceiving you. This is a hearty breakfast of fried chicken and french fries - yummy!

3. Roasted chicken, platanos, and beans...

4. Chicken nuggets or "nuggies" as we sometimes refer to them, are the breakfast of champions!

5. Pizza! This child then ate two big pieces of fried chicken for lunch. No wonder she conked out on the bus on the way home!

After breakfast the girls played some b-ball...

And the boys played some fútbol...

Then it was time for some reflective prayer. I love how serious Anyelo was about it...

After prayer Sor told the kids the story of David and Goliath (David ::pronounced Daveed:: and Goliat in Spanish) and then taught them a really cute song. We broke up into groups of eight to complete a crossword puzzle and color a picture...

Here is Rosita's group...

How cute!

When the kids were finished with their sheets we have them about ten minutes of free time before they preformed their "dramas". During that time I was attacked...

The love to tickle me

Next up were the adorable skits each group put on. Someone in the group played David, someone else Goliath, and then the rest of the kids were soldiers!

First up we had Francisco...

Who battled this mighty Goliath (Omar)...

Reginaldo actually played David for my groups skit, but I guess he wanted to channel Goliath for a picture...

Here's Katherine after she was taken out by David's rock...

Before lunch some of the kids did talent show performances...

Milca did a runway walk complete with blowing kisses to her audience members

Alejandra has come out of her "shy" shell so much this year, and I love to see her smile...

And after lots of prayer, playing, and food...

It was time to go back to school!

All of the kids had such a great time, and I really enjoyed spending the day with my students outside of the classroom. Retreats are a great tool to make students more aware of themselves and God in their lives. I'm glad they got to have this experience. I look forward to them going on retreats for years to come!

"Almost every man wastes part of his life attempting to display qualities which he does not possess” –Samuel Johnson

Happenings in Juticalpa

Last week Kandice spotted this guy crawling around in our living room...

This picture was taken after he was dead and his legs had curled in. It's the biggest spider I've ever seen up close and personal...

Holy Guacamole!

In other news...my favorite little dog has been following us everywhere we go. Here's an excerpt from Andrew's blog explaining the back story (because this happened when I was in the States):

::commenting on his morning runs with Maki and Jeff::

"The other concern is the roving bands of dogs which basically own the streets after dark. At least one other volunteer gave up running in the morning for just this reason. You see, being a predatory species nothing gets a dog’s dander up like seeing something running. Be it a car, a bicycle, or lone pedestrian, something clicks in the reptilian part of the brain, giving rise to age old instincts and the desire to chase whoever the unlucky sap happens to be. Some of these canines are also quite large, and encouraged by their owners to chase off anyone approaching their house outside of business hours.

All this has not endeared the morning constitutional to me…although the dogs do provide excellent motivation.

But a savior has appeared to defend us on those gray morning runs. He is a force like no other in Juticalpa. The streets are his kingdom and his home, and he rules them with an unshakable…umm…coat of dust! Yes, one might even say that he is one with the grime itself! I am of course speaking of none other than “Spotted Dick* ” Oso, the little dog that lives next door!

(* I would like to clarify for any non-English readers that spotted dick is a type of bread pudding with raisins in it. There seems to have been some misinterpretation going about, and I want to make certain that nobody’s sense of propriety has been affronted by my blog.)

Yes, little Dick followed us on our entire run the other morning, all the way from our house to the center of town and back again. He chased off several dogs, and even slowed down to wait for me when I couldn’t keep up with Maki and Jeff (I have never been much of an athlete, unlike Maki and Jeff, who are both in disgustingly good shape. Talk about lessons in humility.)

I do suspect that fewer dogs would have bothered us had Dick not been there, but at least the ones that did give chase were barking at Dick and not us.." 

Next blog posted by Andrew three days later...

"The attentions of Spotted Dick have ceased to be cute. By the end of my last run Saturday morning, I was in such a state of panic that even just seeing a corner where I knew dogs sometimes hang out got my adrenaline pumping. Maki and Jeff expressed similar dismay over a particularly hairy (in all senses of the word) encounter during the run, in which a hell hound decided they would make a good breakfast. Many of the run-ins (no pun intended) we have in the morning could probably be avoided, if we did not have a certain little white spotted canine following us around.

To make matters worse (as they always seem to be down here) Dick has decided that he can now follow us EVERY time we go into town. This ended in disaster when on Sunday afternoon Dick followed me to the local Texaco gas station. Being one of the volunteers favorite places to work, I was on my way to meet up with the other volunteers and do some lesson planning in the air conditioning. Along the way, Dick decided to stop to gnaw on a piece of trash he found. By the time I had noticed his absence I was 30 feet farther down the road, putting me too far to do anything about the beast of a canine which now took offense to Dicks presence in what was clearly HIS part of town.

The ensuing scuffle was not a pleasant sight, and Dick, although alive, did not come out victorious. He proceeded to run towards me, closely followed by The Beast. What possessed me to stand my ground and shoo the great brute off I will never know, but to my great relief it actually worked. Dick carried on as if nothing had happened…accept that he was now leaving a red trail of dots on the ground behind him, and his neck fur was SOAKED in bright red.

I was not pleased.

I met up with the others at Texaco, and Dick disappeared (or rather was chased off by the gas station attendant), later somehow managing to reappear back home.

Feeling that Dick really needed some sort of medical attention (and knowing full well that his “owners” wouldn’t do anything) we sent a distress call to Sonya, who came to the rescue Monday night.

I don’t think I have mentioned Sonya before in my blog. She is a local vet, and good friend of the volunteers. We met her at the beginning of the year, back when we were still trying to have a get together with some locals too practice each other’s language. She has since taken us on hikes up mountains, and on caving expeditions, has told us of how she went to Russia for veterinary school, and given us all the suspicion that she probably knows 25 ways to kill you with a paper cup. Sonya is, in short, awesome.

So it is with great relief that Sonya arrives Monday night to take a look at Dick. With the help of Dick’s owner’s son, Sonya gave the little guy an anti-biotic shot, as well as an anti-inflammatory (which he did not appreciate).

We are now determined to teach Dick to “stay” when we go out, so as to avoid further incidents."

The problem has clearly not stopped...

Spot waiting as we ate dinner at Negritos

There haven't been any other attacks, and I hope it stays that way!

Rainy season is upon us once again and before leaving Jeff, Andrew, and Lacey's the other night I had to really get decked out in some rain gear. I had a rain jacket but Andrew didn't think that would be sufficient and made me a trash bag poncho as well. I stuffed my computer inside, which is why I have a large rectangular bulge in front of my stomach...

Whenever I leave their house at a late hour my body guards always walk me home :)...

Andrew was prepared incase the water got high enough for some snorkeling, haha!

Lacey popped outside for a quick minute to experience it for herself... 

Last Wednesday I took a picture of Anne with her entire Kinder class and then I quickly snuck in this picture with Jared. I'm so excited we're going to be sponsoring him. He is so sweet and adorable!

On Thursday it was my turn to have a class picture taken. 

Here are my troops (minus 4 or 5)...

I never knew I could love so many different people so much, but I do! Every single one of these little faces light up my world!

“Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference” –Nolan Bushnell

I'm Baaaack

My first weekend back all of the volunteers were invited to a carnival birthday party for Brenda and Stefani (who both teach Kinder).

They had these cool masks for all of us to put on...

(Mom, Em, and Theres - I got a lot of compliments on my shirt. Thanks again for picking it out for me! ) 

I don't think I take enough pictures of the people we work with, so I tried to get a few of them in a group shot...

Lacey, Stefani, Flavia, Me, Wendy, Dora, Iveth, and Anne

We all laughed a lot throughout the night...

And I was so happy Claudia came! She's one of my absolute favorite people at Santa Clara...

Halfway through the night I realized I had an admirer, haha...

Roger

He was a really happy guy and we had a lot of fun dancing and laughing together...

And now I have a new barber friend in town.

Here are the guests of honor with Kandice...

Kandice, Brenda, and Stefani

One of Kandice's friend from Germany sent her a fake finger to use as a prop in pictures...

Haha - this is my favorite picture from the night!

Even the Hondurans got into it...

Oh what fun!

That will probably be the last party we have with the Hondurans so I'm glad it was so much fun! 

I can't believe I'll be saying goodbye to these people in just two short weeks :( ...

“But when the Godiva is gone, the gift of real love is having someone who’ll go the distance with you. Some who, when the wedding day limo breaks down, is willing to share a seat on the bus” –Oprah Winfrey

Mi Tiempo en Casa

While I was home I got to cook some really good food! Something I don't do too often in Honduras.

I made this salad and this sandwich. Both were amazingly delicious! Thank you Dee from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Her blog rocks. She has tons of amazing recipes and great pictures to go along with them. If I haven't mentioned it before...I'm addicted to food blogs!

I cooked a few good dishes but I mainly just ate cheese, bread, and kalamata olives :), yum!! 

I got to hang out with this little ball of joy...

Addy and Me

Having fun with Em

What?!?!

One night Em and I took Theresa's dog Mo for a walk along the canal...

I somehow forget how beautiful the canal is. There's something so serene about it...

We passed some beautiful flowers along the way. Springtime is here and summer is just around the corner...

And ended our walk with this beautiful sunset...

On Saturday I got to attend the wedding of some longtime friends. Joey - 13 years and Stephanie - 11. Wow that makes me feel old. Joey and Stephanie have been dating since we were in high school and tied the knot on May 14th :). I was beyond happy to be able to share in their special day. The mass was really great and Stephanie was a beautiful bride....

I love bubbles after a wedding. They always make me so happy!

Their reception was out of control! The food was muy rico, the Dj's were hysterical, and the night was shared with a lot of really amazing people!

Like my friend Brie...

Oh, and this cake. Boy oh boy was it some good cake...

The highlight was getting to meet Camden. He belongs to my friends Stephanie and Chris and he is such a cute little guy. I'm excited to spend some more time with him this summer...

On Sunday I went to my cousin's First Communion/Birthday Party to see some of my family.

Rebecca was really excited to see me :)...

Me and Em with Unky Dan

Monday night I went to dinner with three of my best girlfriends and afterwards got a shaved ice from my favorite stand in Broadripple...

Not only is it the best sno cone I've ever had, but they now put a gumball in the bottom for FREE. If you know me at all you know how insanely happy this makes me!!!

My friends went for ice cream instead...

Excited or cold?

Las cuatro amigas...

Amanda, Me, Heather, and Ashley

This dinner was planned for me to meet Ashley's main squeeze, who is now her fiancé :)! Congratulations again Ash!!

And in honor of Ashley's recent engagement...

"Life comes without guarantees, except... Laughing will brighten your day, smiling will enhance your eyes, and falling in love will change your life"